As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, December is chock-a-block full of holiday traditions here on MBIP! So far we’ve had our annual tattoo and Fish House drink contest and now it’s time for our yearly trip to Northwoods Mall to see Santa Claus!

Every other year (see the Related Posts at the end of this post) I’ve taken Santa something to eat, but this year I thought I’d bring him a couple of gifts. I thought since he’s always giving out presents it might be nice to return the favor to the big guy, so let’s go and find a couple of presents for our 2018 Pause With Mr. Claus edition!

Relics Gift Shop

Here we are at one of my favorite locally-owned Peoria gift shops, Relics. If by chance you’ve never been here it’s located in the shopping center on Glen Avenue next to Sherman’s. Let’s go in and find a couple gifts for Santa Claus!

It’s kind of overwhelming in here because there’s such a huge inventory of cool and unique gift items that you won’t find anywhere else in Peoria. Deb who owns Relics prides herself on stocking gifts, cards, clothing and other items that aren’t found in any other shop in the city. Sometimes it’s hard to make a choice in here!

Luckily my friend Laura was working behind the counter, so I put the pressure on her and asked her to pick out two presents for my visit with Santa Claus.

She picked out these two items in record time and they’re perfect choices! There’s a compass key chain to help Santa in his travels and Alluvian Shaving Soap in case Santa wants to shave off that beard for a while on December 26th. Alluvian is a locally made Peoria product and you can read more about them here. Thanks for the expert help Laura, these gifts are perfect!

Chelsie told me she had an early Christmas present to give to me so we went to her car and she presented me with a Peoria shotglass that she’s just designed and produced! How cool is that? This is a perfect gift and you can get one at Relics, The Peoria Airport, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Urban Artifacts and Lost Art Design in Junction City. Thanks so much Chelsie and now it’s time for us to do a little gift-giving to the man in red!

As we head down the hallway in the first level there’s a signpost telling us we’re headed in the right direction. But as I reached the sparkly destination in the middle of the mall there’s no Santa. It says he’s on a cookie break until 2:35PM. Oh well, that’s just a few minutes away, so let’s take a little look around until the big guy gets back after having his sugar fix.

There’s lots of fun Santa gifts and souvenirs for sale here. Hey, check out this book, “What Santa Wants For Christmas In Peoria!” I opened it up and it looks like we did the right thing!

As I looked up from the gift tables I saw a familiar face sitting in his chair in the middle of this sparkly Santa Village, it’s Santa Claus! And he remembered me from our past visits. He asked if I’ve been a good boy and I took the fifth! Later tonight I’ll be drinking the fifth, but I certainly didn’t tell Santa that!

There’s Santa with his helper, Skyler the Elf.

Now Santa is opening up his Relics gifts that Laura picked out and he loved them! He said that he’s going to take his elves over to Relics and let them pick out some items to distribute next week!

Here I am on Santa’s lap! I asked him for better health in 2019 because between the leg and the heart, I kind of feel like I’ve gotten the shit kicked out of me this year!

This year Santa is giving out bags of “Snowman Fluff.” Is it me or does it look like that snowman is farting? Try and control yourself Mr. Snowman! Sheesh!

Here’s the official 2018 “Pause With Mr. Claus” 2018 portrait! Thanks to Santa and Skyler for playing along and to Laura at Relics for picking out the gifts and thanks to Chelsie for the cool Peoria shot glass! We’ll see you all tomorrow!